ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the authors look at some of the detailed characteristics of particular type of polemic, in the form of images and abusive epithets. Sabre imagery of the repressive kind that the people have seen was, however, so common on the anti-Dreyfusard side that it must have appeared to justify fears of the Army which were so prevalent among their opponents. One of the main characteristics of kind of polemical repetition was the use of what could be described as 'Homeric' epithets. In the 'tribal languages' used in the Affair much of the vocabulary was made up of pejorative formations of a particular kind, created by the use of stock suffixes. Few new formations were created at the time of the Affair using the other pejorative suffixes which Dubois lists. In the historical mythology of both parties the French Revolution loomed large. The ‘clan languages’ of the late nineteenth century were weapons of combat.